willett stockard – SMB Noir

October 1, 1923 issue

cover art by John Decker

~ John Ayotte, “The Black Cracksman”, ‘A white Hawaiian thrill’, 6^th of 10 stories in BM

~ Eustace Hale Ball, “Grandfather’s Will”, 8^th of 13 stories in BM

~ ‘Peter Collinson’ (Dashiell Hammett), “Arson Plus”, ‘1^st Continental Op story & billed as ‘full of fire’; see p, 127 for letter by DH’, 3^rd of 4 stories under this name, reprinted in The Arbor House Treasury of Detective & Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps (1983), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010)

~ Donald Feak, “Black Commandments”, ‘South Seas Tale’, 2nd of 3 stories in BM

~ Newton A. Fuessle, “The Purple Mask”, ‘Kenneth Fuessle and Newton may be the same writer’, 2^nd of 2 stories under this name

~ Robert Russell, “Greggs Over-Reaches”, last of 3 stories in BM

~ Harry Simon, “The Man Who Passed Judgment”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Sleepless Eye”, 16th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Willett Stockard, “Hutch Blood”, ‘billed as “a Black Mask weirdity”’, 4th of 5 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

December 1, 1923 issue

cover art by L.L. Balcom

~ Eustace Hale Ball,“When 7539 Went Black”, ‘7539 is a convict’, 10^th of 13 stories in BM

~ Henry W. Fisher, “Executioners I Have Met”, ‘3rd^t of 6 ‘true’ articles with various subtitles’

~ Francis James, “The Sand Devil”, Prentice, Harvard-trained criminologist turned policeman with Police Chief Shannon, 1^st of 4 parts, 10th of 20 appearances in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “Bodies Pile Up”, Continental Op, 4th of 25, reprinted in The Black Mask Boys (1985, Morrow), reprinted in Nightmare Town as “House Dick” (Knopf, 1999), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), reprinted in Zigzags of Treachery: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, Vol. 1 (Steeger, 2023), 8th of 51 stories in BM

~ Fred McLaughlin, “The White Streak”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Harold Freeman Miners, “Oscar the Terrible”, 1^st of 4 with ‘Topanga John, ancient desert rat’, 1^st of 5 stories in BM

~ Herman Petersen, “One Dried Head”, last of 3 parts, South Seas, 13th of 20 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Vultures’ Trail”, 20th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series

~ Willett Stockard, “Punctual”, last of 5 stories in BM

~ Emmet Welsh, “The Slippery Eel”, ‘Billed as “A Complete Fast-Moving Novelette”; NYC police; oddly, in 15 Nov 1923 issue (p. 42) author is listed as Robert E. Welch’, sole appearance in BM

Tag: willett stockard

October 1, 1923 issue ~ cover art by John Decker

December 1, 1923 issue ~ cover art by L.L. Balcom